Friday Foreplay – Gameweek 11

We embark on the hurdling that is Gameweek 11. Thoroughbreds include captain picks, big hitters, clean sheets, and punts. Also, a poorly worked horse racing analogy.

Captain Picks

Van Persie: Van Persie’s is going to be a mainstay in the captain picks top spot. Manchester United’s fixtures (avl, nor, QPR, WHU, rdg, MCI, sun, swa, NEW, WBA) until the new year are irresistible. To avoid repeating myself in this spot let’s just say that he is the closest to a sure Fantasy bet since Ronaldo graced the Premier League. If you own him, you captain him. If he’s not a part of your Fantasy team, think long and hard about why he isn’t.

Cazorla: Despite Fantasy managers’ lack of interest towards the Spanish midfielder, his attacking stats are sound. He is second only to Silva in minutes per chances created and has a respectable 37 shots with 12 of them on target. Arsenal face Fulham, who have away game problems, and Cazorla will orchestrate Arsenal’s forward forays.

Baines: A rare sight in the captain picks; a defender. Everton face Sunderland, currently the Premier League’s worst attack. In addition to the likely clean sheet, Baines has excellent underlying attacking numbers. He leads the league in created chances per game and key passes. Fantasy wise, he’s an extra midfielder that gets a higher bonus for clean sheets.

Big Hitters

Mata is back from injury and likely to cause Liverpool problems. He has delivered a staggering 10.8 points per game for his last five games. He’s still priced only at £9.4, £0.1 less than his initial price. Of the big hitters he’s the best bet for your captain choice.

Tottenham have only kept one clean sheet in 10 games, conceding an average of 1.5 goals per away game. Tevez seems to be the best bet for a start in Mancini’s rotation crazy team. Tevez’s attacking numbers for the last games are promising, despite his blank last Gameweek.

This Gameweek’s gut feeling is red-hot Suarez. His amazing goal against Newcastle is an early contender for goal of the season. Despite Liverpool facing defensively sound Chelsea at the Bridge, Suarez is such a nuisance for defences that he could very well grab a goal or two.

Any team facing Southampton is likely to score some goals, making Michu a good pick for Gameweek 11.

Maloney is having an excellent season and has delivered over three points in five of his ten games so far. Four assists and a goal is a great return for a £5.0 priced midfielder and he is arguably a better budget pick than the popular Raheem Sterling.

Clean Sheets

Any team facing Sunderland at the moment is almost an automatic clean sheet pick. You really should be picking Baines from the Everton defence, but since we included him in the captain picks, Jagielka is the only other safe choice from David Moyes’s side.

Stoke are strong at home and face a QPR side that haven’t found their rhythm this season. Begovic is a popular goalkeeper choice and is still a decent purchase despite being £0.5 more expensive than in the beginning of the season.

Punts

With doubts over whether Demba Ba will recover in time for Newcastle’s game against West Ham, we switch our Fantasy focus to Ben Arfa instead. He’s not been as explosive this season as the latter part of last season indicated. Having failed to score or assist in four games in a row he finally made an impact against Liverpool with slalom run through the defence setting up Cabaye’s goal.

Berbatov’s impressive form has continued after his return from hip injury. He has only failed to deliver attacking returns in one of his five games as a starter. His two away games have featured a goal, assist, and three bonus points.